Parents whose children will be entering or changing schools in 2020 must apply this year, and it is crucial to make sure your child is registered by the stipulated dates to ensure his or her placement in the appropriate grade next year.

Being on top of school applications dates apply to first-time Grades R, 1 and 8 learners, and those moving schools in 2020.

Children entering Grade R next year must be 4-to-5 years old by June 2020, and children entering Grade 1 must 5-to-6 years old by the same date.

The application process

Introduced this year, the Western Cape Education Department's WCED Online Admissions Pilot Project has been made accessible to 350 Western Cape schools. The project is being tested this year and will be applied across the province in future. You can follow this link to see which Western Cape schools are using the online application system this year: wcedonline.westerncape.gov.za/admissions

Parents based in other provinces must complete application forms at the school/s of choice and the following documents will be required.

For SA citizens:

Birth certificate

Immunisation card

Transfer card/letter (for those children moving schools both within or outside the province)

The last school report card for learners who have been to school (if moving school or applying to Grade 8)

For foreign citizens:

Registration dates:

Since learner registration dates vary from province to province, here we've rounded up the application dates of each provincial department.

The dates for a number of provinces are not yet available but we've listed the last known dates (those for 2019 registration) to give parents an idea of when learner registration will take place in 2020.

*We've contacted each department to inquire about school enrolment dates and will be updating this story with the details as soon as we receive a response. For now we listed last year's school application dates for an indication of time period.